The above link will lead you to a German speaking online counsellor, who is fully qualified to work online and trained to the highest of professional standards.

Christine Schneiderchristineschneider1106@gmail.comdeutschsprachigeonlinetherapeutin-germanspeakingonlinecounsellor4http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/cambridgetherapycentre/26550828067721590602016-08-03T10:05:05.728Z2016-08-03T11:05:04.526Z2016-08-03T11:05:00.691ZAll news updates can now be found on Facebook!

To stay in touch and receive our regular updates, please take a moment to follow us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/CambridgeTherapyCentreUnfortunately Google sites do not support Java script, which is why there is no direct Facebook like button on this page.

There is a half-day Saturday workshop on how to be more assertive in your everyday life coming up in Cambridge on August 4th 2012. If you would like to book or register your interest, please contact Christine directly at info@cambridgetherapycentre.co.uk.

Christine Schneiderchristineschneider1106@gmail.comassertivenesshalf-dayworkshop2http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/cambridgetherapycentre/59190308073264484852013-09-05T14:35:57.825Z2016-08-03T10:12:50.369Z2016-08-03T10:12:49.182ZWorkplace counselling can improve attitudes to work and reduce number of sick days

John McLeod's systematic review of the effectiveness of workplace
counselling looks at
several studies carried out on the subject. What is particularly
interesting is that McLeod's work suggests that workplace counselling
has a beneficial impact not only on the employees' psychological
well-being in general, but also impacts positively attitudes to work and
the number of sick days taken, regardless of the theoretical
counselling model used. You can find the paper's abstract and a link to the full text here.

Christine Schneiderchristineschneider1106@gmail.comworkplacecounsellingcanimproveattitudestoworkandreducenumberofsickdays-14http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/cambridgetherapycentre/1540266573129567162014-09-04T10:01:22.726Z2014-09-04T10:02:10.877Z2014-09-04T10:02:10.876ZOnline and telephone counselling now available through BUPA

BUPA clients
can now opt for online or telephone counselling instead of face to face
sessions in Cambridge. This means that we can now take on BUPA clients
from all over the UK. To find out more information, please go to the BUPA client page.

Christine Schneiderchristineschneider1106@gmail.comlastminuteappointmentavailability1http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/cambridgetherapycentre/5256234103013076512013-11-06T09:17:15.905Z2013-11-06T09:20:24.504Z2013-11-06T09:20:24.503ZCRB checks are now called DBS checks

The CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) is now called DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service). The change took place almost a year ago, but quite a few people are still confused by it. All it means is that you now need to ask therapists if they are DBS checked; the actual disclosure types are still the same - i.e. anybody who works with children or vulnerable adults needs to have an enhanced check. Other than the name, nothing else seems to have changed much, as even the certificates look very similar to the old CRB ones.

Christine Schneiderchristineschneider1106@gmail.comlastminuteappointmentavailabilityonfacebook5http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/cambridgetherapycentre/5472921942851981702013-01-08T14:20:52.300Z2013-01-08T14:20:52.316Z2013-01-08T14:20:52.289ZHere’s an easy way of calculating alcohol units:

Start by looking at the
percentage listed on the bottle, because that number is the same as the number
of units contained in 1 litre of that drink. I.e if it says 10% on the bottle,
it means that 1 litre contains 10 units of alcohol.

Example 1: If a bottle of wine
says that it’s 12% it means that 1 litre of that particular wine contains 12
units of alcohol. A wine bottle usually holds 75cl (i.e three quarters of a
litre), meaning that the entire bottle contains 9 units of alcohol.

Example 2: If the beer at your
local pub has 5% it means that 1litre of that beer contains 5 units. A pint is
just over half a litre, so you can estimate that 1 pint of that beer contains just
over 2.5 units.

Example 3: If a spirit has 40%,
it means that 1 litre of it contains 40 units. A single serving of 25 ml
therefore contains 1 unit of alcohol.

You had a fabulous idea, you meant really well, you
spent a lot of money, and somehow it still went all wrong and your teambuilding
day left your staff frustrated and annoyed. Or maybe they had a great time, but
you can’t see how the day has improved productivity.

Teambuilding exercises quite often go wrong in one
way or another, usually because they haven’t been thought through well enough.

Look at it from your staff’s point of view: you might
think that a Saturday spent rock-climbing is a great incentive – and it may
well be, if your staff are action loving singles who generally get on quite
well together anyway. But do you think that a married father of two (who
already works late most evenings) really wants to spend the little free time he
has on a work activity? ‘That’s easy’ you think, ‘we’ll simply do our
development days during the week – office hours only!’ That may be a better
approach, but do your team of software engineers (who are working frantically
to get your new product out in time) feel that they can afford spending two
days on a communication skills course right now? The answer is that you need to
think very carefully about what’s most important to your staff and keep things practical.

Also, be clear on what you want to gain, for example:
do you want to reward achievement? Is there a genuine need for training in a
specific area? Are you trying to mend strained relationships? Make sure that your
activity is suitable for achieving your goal.

Think about who will join the event and how they
usually relate during the working day. There is little point in teaching two
members of staff to work together more effectively if they never cross paths within
your organisation. You can still organise large events, just make sure that relevant
teams are grouped together.

And don't forget to ask your staff for honest (ideally anonymised) feedback at the end of the day - you'd be surprised what you might hear!

For more ideas on how to make your teambuilding
exercise successful for you as well as useful and enjoyable for your staff, have a look in the corporate section of this website or contact Christine directly to ask about possible options!

Unfortunately, publishing telephone and mobile numbers online, on Facebook and Twitter attracts a fair share of nuisance calls, which is why all incoming calls to Cambridge Therapy Centre are now automatically tracked and recorded, including calls made from withheld numbers. What this means for you: When you call any of our numbers, your number will automatically be logged; however calls will only be recorded if they are of a harassing nature; this means that if you are phoning with a genuine enquiry, your call will not be recorded. Similarly, logged numbers are deleted regularly and only those of nuisance callers are kept on file. So you really don't need to worry: if your call is genuine, no information about you, your number or content of your call will be stored.

The British Association for
Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) has issued a press statement warning over
the sole use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) when used in its computerised form.

Online counselling and
psychotherapy has become more easily available over the past few years, and
there are several well trained and qualified therapists available offering
online therapy in accordance with the BACP’s Guidelines for Online Counselling
and Psychotherapy. These therapists usually offer a variety of options based on
one to one therapy with a qualified practitioner. Recently however there has
also been an increase in new websites offering computerised CBT. With
computerised CBT, clients may still receive some form of input from an actual
practitioner through written feedback; the majority of work however, is done by
clients going through a set of online exercises. Unsurprisingly, in the March
issue of their journal for counselling and psychotherapy professionals, the
BACP have voiced their concerns over the use of computerised CBT as a sole
therapy. In this statement Tina Campbell, chair of the BACP Healthcare Division
states that: “Many of the people we see have complex psychological needs. It is
not possible to address the underlying causes of their distress though a
computer programme.” The press statement further explains that computerised CBT
should be seen as “guided self-help” rather than actual therapy.

What does this
mean for anyone considering online counselling? As mentioned above, there are
several qualified and competent online therapists available on the web. The most
important task for anyone looking for online counselling is to establish that
the service is actually offering a one to one counselling programme that
involves a qualified therapist engaging directly with the clients, whether that
is via email, text based, voice or video chat.

Does it mean that online
counselling should not include CBT? No, it doesn’t mean that. Even though the
uses of CBT are restricted as it is not suitable for all clients and for all
issues you may want to bring to counselling, your online therapist may still apply
CBT methods, as long as these are used in the context of actual one to one therapy
and not through an automated computerised programme. If you would like to learn
a little more about what CBT can and can’t achieve, you can have a look at this
article explaining what you might expect from CBT. You can also find some more
information on online counselling in general here.

A study carried out the the University of Cambridge has presented clear evidence that work place counselling provides real and lasting benefits to employees. The results show that the well being of employees who had received counselling through their workplace improved measurably after an average of seven counselling sessions. What's even more encouraging is that improvement was still maintained six months after the counselling sessions. The study was awarded a BACP Excellence Award 2011 and the results will be presented at the 2012 BACP Research Conference in Edinburgh in May of this year. A copy of the abstract, giving you the key findings can be found below. You can access the full article for a limited amount of time here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14733145.2011.638080

Background: Many employers provide counselling support on work and personal issues for their employees, but in times ofeconomic pressure such services can be at risk if their effectiveness is not demonstrated. Aim: To evaluate whether time limitedcounselling in a workplace can effect sustained change in well-being. Method: The study was carried out by a staffcounselling team in a university setting. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) was completed byclients at the beginning and end of counselling, and at three and six months following. A non-treatment comparison groupcompleted the survey at the same intervals. Results: The results of our investigation show clearly that the effect of time limitedcounselling (average seven sessions) on distressed clients is positive. The evidence of our treatment group suggeststhat they acquire an increased sense of well-being as a result of the experience of counselling with a significant statisticaldifference between pre-and post-counselling treatment group scores on the WEMWBS and consistently higher scores foundpost counselling. The improvement was maintained at the same level for at least six months following the end of counselling.Conclusions: The provision of time-limited counselling by employers is an effective support for personal difficultiesaffecting work. Jill Collins, Alison Gibson, Sarah Parkin, Rosemary Parkinson, Diana Shave & Colin Dyer (2012):Counselling in the workplace: How time-limited counselling can effect change in well-being, Counselling and PsychotherapyResearch: Linking research with practice, DOI:10.1080/14733145.2011.638080

Sunday, 18th March is Mother's Day, but how is your relationship with your mother? Psychology Today have published a comprehensive article on difficult mothers, the effects that they can have on a person's development and future friendships and relationships. You can read the full article along with some case studies and strategies on how to improve the situation here: ttp://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200912/mother-damned-est

"Research shows many young people suffer from rape and serious sexual assault in their relationships. This Home Office advert aims to tackle rape in teen relationships."Warning: makes for some very uncomfortable watching!

Not many people know that, as well
as being St David’s day, March the 1st, is Self-Injury Awareness Day. The
chances are that you know somebody who self-harms or has done so in the past,
whether you are aware of it or not.

Self-harm can affect anyone
regardless of age, gender, religion, race and culture - it is certainly not
something that only affects teenage girls.
Statistics show that around 1 per cent of the population self-harm, with women
more likely to do so than men. Recent British research suggests that 1 in 10
teenagers have self-injured, although it is important to remember that people
who self-harm can be of all ages and do come from all walks of life

What is
self-injury?

Self-injury, also often called
self-harm, can be described as an act of non-suicidal, yet very deliberate damage
against oneself. This is often done in order to cope with an overwhelming
situation or emotion. It is not
usually just a one off occurrence, but a repeated and regular behaviour. People
who self-harm use many different ways to injure themselves: cutting and burning
tend to be the most common forms of self-harm, but there are many others, too.
Some people will deliberately hit their head; they might scratch or pick their
skin, bite themselves, pull their own hair, interfere with wound healing, or they
might use asphyxiation or take poisonous substances without suicidal intent.
Not all self-injury results in physical marks or scars. Also, the physical
severity of the injury does not usually relate to the amount of emotional
distress that a person is in, although often an individual’s self-harming can
become worse over time.

Why do people self-harm?

Although self-injury as such is not suicidal behaviour, it can lead to
hospitalisation or in extreme cases, even death. Also, self-harming is not a
condition in itself, but it is usually a symptom of underlying issues and it can
also often be an indicator for other underlying mental health problems, such as
depression. This doesn’t mean that people who suffer from depression self-harm,
it tends to be the other way round: we know that people who self-harm are
usually more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and lower
self-esteem than those who do not. As
mentioned earlier, self-injury as such doesn’t usually start out as suicidal
behaviour, however, it may lead to future suicidal thinking and some people who
self-injure may indeed go on to attempt suicide in the future.

People
self-harm for a variety of reasons, which are as varied as people themselves.
Very often however, people who self-harm say that they do so in order to
release tension and to cope with emotional trauma and overwhelming
psychological pain. Some people state that they self-harm out of the need to
gain control over painful emotions or situations where they feel very much out
of control. Yet others report that they self-harm as a form self-punishment. In
either case, it is impossible to generalise the reasons why people self-injure,
and often the reasons and their behaviour can also change over time.

How can you help somebody who self-harms?

If you
know somebody who self-harms, remember to treat them with the same kind of
respect and compassion you would have for anybody else who is going through an
emotionally difficult time.

Remember that self-injury is often a
coping mechanism that people use to deal with emotional stress; it is not just
a means of acting out or attention seeking and because of this, people cannot
just stop self-injuring until they have alternative coping mechanisms in place.
The road to recovery can be a very long and difficult one, and telling someone
to stop self-injuring or asking them to make promises will most likely only make
things worse.

How can counselling and psychotherapy help?

A good first step can often be to
initially find an alternative to a person’s current behaviour that isn’t as
physically damaging as the current one. For example, sometimes people who have
previously cut themselves start using rubber bands to snap at their skin; this
of course is only the substitution of one painful action for another and as
such doesn’t achieve much. However, as the sessions progress, therapy can
uncover the reasons as to why a person self-harms and teach them different ways
of coping with a specific emotion or situation instead. Even where a person has
been self-harming for years, therapy is usually immensely successful and can
very soon lead a person to take the small steps necessary to change how they
have so far been dealing with their difficulties.

Also, remember that if a family
member or loved one self-harms, you might find it beneficial to talk to a
therapist yourself to help you better cope with the situation.

If you would like to talk about this further, either in person or via email, you can book online and telephone sessions here or for an appointment in Cambridge, please phone 01223 654 678.

Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the terms Counsellor and Psychotherapist remain unprotected in the UK. This means that pretty much anybody can use these titles regardless of how, where,when and if they trained. (You can read more about this dilemma here.)At the same time there are several professional bodies who offer membership and accreditation to therapists. The main accrediting body in the UK is the BACP (the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). Practitioners who are accredited by the BACP follow specific set guidelines, including for example how their work is supervised, how many hours of ongoing professional development they agree to do each year, and the way they work in general. BACP accredited therapists also have undertaken specific training back when they qualified. It doesn't mean that their training was better or worse than that of therapists who aren't accredited by the BACP, it simply means that there is a way of moderating how many hours of training they had, what subjects were included in their training and how much experience they have in general. As of 2012, all BACP accredited practitioners, together with practitioners who have accreditation from other professional bodies*, have been included on the United Kingdom Register of Counsellors/Psychotherapists (UKRCP), which is a voluntary register of Counsellors/Psychotherapists held by BACP. (You can find more information about this move here and more about the UKRCP in general here.)So, what is it all about? It simply means that you'll find that rather than advertising themselves as accredited by specific bodies, therapists may list themselves as UKRCP Registered Independent Counsellor/Psychotherapist. Hopefully, this should help reduce the amount of different names and titles that are currently in use and make it easier for clients to recognise registered practitioners. Keep in mind though that this is a voluntary register and that not all counsellors who have the necessary qualifications and experience may decide to be listed. Remember that if you're not sure about a practitioner's qualifications or experience, you can always ask them - if they're genuine they won't mind answering your questions. If you haven't done so yet, have a look at the article I wrote a while ago on how to find a good counsellor or
psychotherapistand what kind of questions you should ask.

We can all become stressed at one time or another, but how do you know, if the stress you are experiencing is beginning to negatively affect your health? BBC Health has published a useful overview of some of the main triggers and symptoms of stress, along with a few simple practical suggestions on how to improve your environment. This overview can serve as an easy first step for you to inform yourself a little more about stress and what you might want to do about it. Remember though, that some of the suggestions made sound very simple and that reality can of course be completely different and that you may find it more difficult to follow the steps presented in this feature. If you do find this to be the case, then it is probably the right time to think about talking to somebody about how you can decrease your stress levels. You can find the BBC feature here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/emotional_health/mental_health/emotion_stress.shtml

Wishing everybody a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!The holiday crisis appointment system has been working really well and will continue to be in place up until Monday the 9th of January when all appointments will revert back to their normal schedule.

Christine Schneiderchristineschneider1106@gmail.comhappynewyear2http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/cambridgetherapycentre/17508950653627810122011-11-22T15:48:19.733Z2012-02-01T12:03:30.789Z2012-02-01T12:03:30.787ZIs the thought of an office Christmas party getting you stressed?

In the run up to the holidays, Christine Schneider was interviewed by
Cambridge Edition about how to cope with anxiety caused by the thought
of office Christmas parties. You can read the short feature on page 26
of the November copy: http://www.cambsedition.co.uk/(copy and paste the
URL directly into your browser's address bar).

Christine Schneiderchristineschneider1106@gmail.comisthethoughtofanofficechristmaspartygettingyoustressed5http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/cambridgetherapycentre/46399792737096682602012-02-01T11:33:35.987Z2012-02-01T11:55:44.226Z2012-02-01T11:55:44.224ZListen out for our radio advert!

Listen out for our advert on
Cambridge and Ely Star Radio between the hours of 6am and 7pm! There is also a copy of it attached to the bottom of this page, so you can listen to it here,
too.

Christine Schneiderchristineschneider1106@gmail.comlistenoutforourradioadvert7http://sites.google.com/feeds/content/site/cambridgetherapycentre/65009958185435195292011-12-19T13:08:54.327Z2011-12-19T13:09:02.417Z2011-12-19T13:09:02.414ZHoliday Support

Christmas and New Year can be a difficult time, not only for people on their own, but also for families and couples. Yet, most counselling clinics will be closed over the holidays, with appointments only resuming in January. If you do find yourself in need of counselling or emotional support in the meantime, please phone Christine directly on her mobile on 07923 239 660 or email her here in order to book an emergency online or telephone appointment.Please do remember that even though there is a number of emergency holiday appointments available, these still have to be booked in advance, even if they are booked at short notice. This is because emails to this website will be checked less frequently over the holidays. However, you should still be able to receive a reply within a day. In case you were unable to get an appointment:If you do need urgent support and found yourself unable to get an out of hours appointment, please contact the Samaritans for further advice on holiday support.

There will be a series of Saturday workshops held at the Therapy Room in Cambridge. Sessions will include assertiveness training, time management skills, relationships issues and more. Exact times and dates will be announced here and directly at the venue.